As Merab Dvalishvili prepares for a rematch with Sean O’Malley, “The Machine” has already listed the next target:
On June 7th, Dvalishvili returns to the main event spotlight at UFC 316, defending the bantamweight championship against the very man who took it for nine months.
The news of the rematch was hardly excited among MMA fans. Virtually everyone saw O’Malley in the past and speculated who Dvalishvili would face in the second half of 2025.
Don’t wonder if Dvalishvili has already been appointed his next challenger.
“I want to be busy. As I said in another interview, I’ll be happy if I competed two more times this year. Corey Sandhagen looks ready for me,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “We’ve never fought each other. He’s a great candidate. I don’t mind having another easy turnaround fight, and I don’t mind fighting one more at the end of the year in either New York or here in my new home in Las Vegas.”
Merab Dvalishvili struggles to motivate O’Malley Rematch
Of course, Dvavlishvili will need to dodge the soothed and revitalized O’Malley when the promotion returns to New Jersey for a pay-per-view event that boasts two interesting titles Tilts.
“In my professional career, this is my first rematch,” Dvalishvili told Michael Bisping. “In Georgia, I was fighting professional rules, but those fights are not on my official record.
“So I had a rematch at the beginning of my career. And it doesn’t count because I wasn’t very used to the game. Now, it’s the first rematch of my professional career. Honestly, is it hard to beat him and get 100% motivated?”